On Birds and Around Birds

Good pointing dog trainers have an overview of the steadying process. They think less about specific training steps and more about training in broader terms. A good example is Bill West. If you ever spent time around Bill, you heard the terms on birds and around birds. When a dog was on birds, the dog had scent of a bird. When a dog was around birds, the dog knew birds were in the area or he saw birds fly, but no scent was involved. The difference between on birds and around birds may seem insignificant, but if you think about it, most training situations take place either on birds or around birds, and you may be surprised at how these two simple terms can help keep your dog happy and manage his level of excitement as you go through formal training.

One of the first rules in the Bill West method is to train a dog in a field where the dog is around birds. The dog thinks he can find birds so he is happy to be out there and in a good frame of mind to learn. When he does a good job, he is rewarded by being worked on birds. This bird contact increases his level of excitement, and he will look for birds in the next workout. Unfortunately, dogs that are worked in the backyard, where they haven’t found birds, rarely enjoy training and some lose interest altogether.

As training progresses, these two terms help you manage your dog’s level of excitement the same way you adjust a thermostat. Not hot enough, you work him on birds. Too hot, you work him around birds. Anytime your dog is around birds, he is calmer and you need less pressure to gain his attention.  Here is where the majority of teaching takes place and where your dog learns to be obedient to your commands. Take the stand command. Teaching this command is basic obedience work, which most dogs find boring, but if your dog is worked around birds, he is in a good state of mind to learn and he stays relatively calm. And because he’s not on birds, you can get your hands on him, set him back, spin him or stroke him and you’re not coming between him and the bird.

If you make a mistake or notice your dog is less excited about being out there, you can work him on birds and quickly build back his excitement. Just last week, I was working a young dog and teaching him the e-collar cue for the stand command. About the third time I nicked him with the e-collar, he became concerned. As soon as I saw this change, I took him right to a bird and let him point it, and he became excited again.

Sometimes you have a dog on the end of a check-cord that is dragging you around and too excited to focus on training. You can lower his excitement level by working on obedience around birds, not on birds. It may take a couple of weeks of simply asking him to go with you and come to you on the check-cord, but until you gain his focus, he isn’t ready to work on birds. If you begin bird work before your dog is focused on training, you will have to use more pressure to teach him and this extra pressure often shows up as problems later on.

Bill West had two well-known students, pro trainers Bill Gibbons and Maurice Lindley, that developed their own unique methods for working dogs on birds and around birds. Bill Gibbons worked dogs in a procession where each dog, guided with a check-cord by a handler, followed behind another dog. The dog in front was brought in to point a bird while the other dogs were stopped and allowed to watch from behind. These dogs were around birds and this is where the basic obedience commands were taught. Maurice Lindley brought Bill to South Carolina to teach a seminar, and after watching Bill’s procession, he developed a launcher program to simulate Bill’s method of working around birds. (See Training with Mo: How Maurice Lindley Trains Pointing Dogs by Martha Greenlee).

As you gain a better understanding of the terms on birds and around birds, you’ll see how managing your dog’s energy level gives you a broader view of the steadying process. Whenever your dog seems too excited, you can work him on obedience around birds to regain his focus so you need less pressure to teach him, and if your dog seems bored or isn’t up for training, you can work him on birds to rekindle his excitement. During each workout, you are constantly making adjustments to the thermostat, turning it up or down, as you react to what your dog did or anticipate what he’s about to do. And as you learn to keep him happy and manage his energy level, you will discover that you are leaving far fewer fingerprints on your dog than ever before.

Reading the Tail

Understanding a dog’s body language separates good trainers from mediocre ones. A dog’s tail is one of the most expressive parts of his body and knowing how to read the tail is like looking through a window into his mind. Recently, I had an opportunity to observe a variety of tails when Maurice Lindley presented a pointing dog seminar at our kennel in Virginia. For three days, I watched Mo work a total of twenty dogs of different breeds, ages, sexes and levels of experience, and while their looks and actions were varied, their body language was the same. It was the universal language of pointing dogs.

On the first day, Mo evaluated the dogs by putting a pinch-collar and check-cord on them and walking them around the training field. Initially, some of the dogs tucked their tails as they walked indicating they were uncomfortable. As Mo began asking them to stop and stand still he stroked them a couple of times for praise before moving them on. After being stopped and stroked a couple of times, most of the tails began to come up. Mo explained, “When I first start walking a dog around on the check-cord and pinch-collar, I watch how he carries himself. A dog that isn't confident may tuck his tail until he figures out everything is OK. After I work with him a couple of times, the tail starts to come up at least to level with the back, which tells me the dog is becoming comfortable and ready to learn.”

Two of the dogs held their tails up in a more confident manner. As Mo began to walk them around the field and asked them to stop and stand still, both dogs stood still with all four feet planted on the ground except for their tails which were going around in little circles at ninety miles a minute. Mo explained, “Some dogs see everything that moves in the field. There is a lot of looking around and a fast circular tail action which tells me they are in a different world and not focused on me. These dogs take extra work to prepare for training. I’ll have to work hard to gain their attention and get them in a submissive state of mind so they accept me as their boss. A dog has to submit and buy into the training before I move him forward and this is before I get to bird work.”

On the second day, Mo planted quail and turned loose some of the older dogs, one at a time. Most of the dogs had tails that cracked with a happy animated action indicating they were thinking about birds and focused on hunting. One dog ran with a flat tail and acted like he was more interested in running than hunting or listening to his handler. Most of the dogs pointed with intensity but one dog was so jacked up and intense on point that his tail quivered with excitement. It came as no surprise that he charged in to flush the birds at the same time as the handler walked in. Another dog pointed staunchly but then his tail loosened up and began to flag in a slow back and forth action as the dog lost confidence that a bird was there. Once the handler asked him to move up, the dog went forward and pointed rock solid.

Reading your dog’s tail takes experience, but the more you pay attention to the tail, the better trainer you will become. As you go through the steadying process, your dog’s tail will tell you what is going on in his mind. You will start to see when your dog is ready to learn, when he’s happy, when he’s confused, when he’s not paying attention, and when he needs his confidence built up. And don’t just limit yourself to looking at your own dogs; go to a training day or a seminar or field trial and watch as many dogs as you can. I knew a National Champion that always ran with a high tail except when he was getting ready to knock birds. I used to chuckle when I was riding his brace and saw his tail drop because I knew exactly what he was about to do.

 

Praise

Praise is one type of reward you use to train a dog. Food treats, tossing a ball and an excited voice are examples of other types of rewards. Trainers who compete in dogs sports such as obedience, agility and tracking use a variety of rewards to let the dog know he did what the trainer asked. However, training a pointing dog is different. These dogs are bred with a strong desire to find birds, so finding birds is already a powerful reward, and it gets them excited. The key to training a pointing dog is to give praise as a reward when your dog does what you asked. Unlike most rewards, praise can be given in ways that don’t increase your dog’s level of excitement. The calmer you can keep your dog around birds, the less pressure you will need to redirect his focus back to training.

Years ago, a field trialer told me a story that illustrates the complexities of rewarding your dog around birds. Mike was having trouble getting his dog around clean at field trials. After exhausting every piece of training advice he’d been given, he decided to reward his dog with a chunk of hotdog every time the dog stood steady on a bird. The training was going great and Mike was ready to enter him in a field trial again. On the first find, his dog stood rock solid. Mike walked in confidently, flushed the bird and fired, but as he started back to his dog, he noticed the dog’s entire rear-end was wagging in anticipation of the hotdog. The judge informed Mike his dog had started wagging as soon as Mike walked in front of him. Since wagging on point is frowned on in field trials, the judge ordered Mike to pick up his dog.

Bill West got it right when he gave praise as a reward around birds. In the Bill West method, anytime your dog does what you ask, you silently praise him with long gentle strokes of your hand. This type of stroking is different than patting. Pats get your dog excited while strokes help him calm down. To stroke your dog, gently slide your hand along the entire length of his body beginning at the withers. Using your hand in this manner not only makes your dog calmer but it also builds his confidence. When you go to praise your dog, be sure to approach him in a slow and easy way so you appear calm and confident and then stroke him a couple of times.

Timing of praise is critical and varies with each situation. In the early stages of formal training, you praise your dog immediately after he gives you what you want. You aren’t looking for perfection; rather you are looking for opportunities to encourage your dog and make the training clearer. For example, if you are teaching the stand command and you ask your dog to stop with a pinch-collar tug, the moment your dog stands still, lean down and stroke him a couple of times. If he chases a bird to the end of the check-cord and stops, stroke him as he is standing still. If you are teaching the e-collar and he stops when you cue him with momentary stimulation, stroke him after he stops to let him know he did what you asked.

As your dog becomes steady on birds and he’s pointing or backing, don’t interrupt his concentration. Wait until the situation is over and then stroke him a couple of times as he remains standing. As training advances and he is working birds further away from you, you may begin to notice that when you walk back to him, he has a new air of confidence about him. Not only is he calmer but he seems pleased with himself. When you see this change in your dog, you know he is accepting training and wants to work for you.

Anytime you teach your dog something new, be sure to give him praise when he has success. While it’s fine to get more animated and tell your dog, “Good boy” and pat him up when you call him to you, you might save these excited types of rewards for the end of the workout. During the workout, try not to increase his level of excitement. By rewarding him in a way that helps him calm down and also builds confidence, you will need less pressure to train him, training will go easier, and your dog will be a lot happier. 

Using Physical Correction

There are two basic ways to correct your dog during formal training. One way is with stimulation from the e-collar and the other is using physical correction. Physical correction was the primary form of correction to teach the steadying process until the late 1980s when Tri-tronics came out with a variable intensity e-collar. Unlike the “hot” single button e-collars that were the norm, this new e-collar had low, medium, and high buttons and five intensity levels. For the first time, you could adjust the intensity level of the e-collar to fit the situation and use it around birds without causing blinking problems.

As trainers experimented with these new e-collars, articles began appearing in some of the sporting magazines on how to use them in formal training. I really liked the idea of using a variable intensity e-collar and decided to buy one. At first, it was almost too easy to teach a dog to stand birds and not chase. After I’d taught a couple of dogs to be steady with the e-collar, I realized something was missing in their training and that something was respect. My dogs didn’t respect me. By relying solely on the e-collar and foregoing any type of physical correction, my dogs had learned to respect the birds but not me.

If you think about it, physical correction is fundamental to how dogs learn. I was watching a momma dog with her pups recently and one of the pups began pulling on her ear. She gave a warning growl, and when he didn’t quit the behavior, she gave him an immediate bite that sent him howling and running away. She showed no concern or remorse and continued about her business as if nothing had happened. Eventually, the pup returned, but this time he was much more respectful. His approach was low and crouching, and he rolled onto his back and tried to lick her lips. The momma dog corrected the pup swiftly and without emotion to teach him that his behavior was unacceptable. At the same time, she earned his respect, and as a result, the pup would think twice before trying the same thing again.

I decided to incorporate some of the physical corrections used in the Bill West method along with the e-collar corrections I was already using. Over the next several years, I saw a big difference in my dogs. Instead of standing broke from e-collar pressure, my dogs were standing broke for me. They weren’t competing with me to flush the bird and seemed more obedient to my commands. In other words, respected me and wanted to work for me.     

 In the Bill West method, trainers use the pinch-collar and check-cord and their hands to correct a dog and earn his respect. Pro trainer Maurice Lindley explains, “A dog learns to respect me when I get my hands on him. I begin training with physical pressure and mold the dog with my hands as I teach him to stand still. Once the dog is comfortable with physical pressure, I’m ready to introduce physical correction.” Two examples of physical corrections Maurice uses are setting a dog back and spinning a dog (see Training with Mo: How Maurice Lindley Trains Pointing Dogs by Martha Greenlee). These corrections aren’t meant to hurt a dog and are done swiftly and without anger to let him know his behavior is unacceptable.

If you have been depending on the e-collar for most of your corrections, you might consider adding some physical corrections to your training program. Be sure to use one type of correction or the other, not both together, so as not to overwhelm your dog. As training progresses, be careful and try to match the severity of the correction to the situation. Just as e-collar corrections have different intensity levels, physical corrections have different intensity levels too. Some physical corrections are given gently and resemble nagging while others are given more forcefully in order to get your dog’s attention.

The timing of a physical correction is the same as an e-collar correction and must be delivered quickly before your dog’s brain has time to move on. If you have to wait to correct your dog, it is best to skip the correction so you don’t confuse him. If it’s hard for you to get physical with your dog, realize that you are communicating to him in a language he already understands. And any time you feel yourself becoming angry, remember to stop training. Getting physical with your dog isn’t about hurting him. It’s about getting down on his level and teaching him the same way his momma taught him.

You can gain a dog’s trust by being nice to him, but you won’t earn his respect. If you can find the right balance between physical corrections and e-collar corrections in the training field, your dog will learn to respect both you and the bird, and once you have his respect, you will have a dog that wants to work for you and is a brag dog to train.

Walking Your Pup

A while back a new puppy owner asked me what he should do to start his pup. I suggested he take his pup to the field and go for a walk. Walking your pup is one of the best ways to develop the bird dog instincts your pup inherits from his parents. These instincts include the instinct to hunt, to point and to be part of a team. The best time to develop these instincts is between the ages of three and six months. By six months of age, many pups are becoming independent and some may stop going with you.

There is an art to walking pups and to do it well you need to understand the difference between developing a pup and training him. Training involves teaching your pup to do something. Developing him involves creating situations where he can learn on his own. For example, when I was five years old my father who had been a competitive swimmer took me to the pool and threw me in the water. At first I flailed around, but then I discovered I already knew how to swim. My father didn’t have to teach me. I was born with the instinct to swim and all my father did was put me in a situation where I could learn on my own. While my father’s method was a bit extreme, you do the same thing with your pup every time you take him to the field and expose him to situations where he can learn on his own what he was bred to do.

When you walk your pup, let him run free and investigate the world on his terms, and as he runs around, you want to basically ignore him. You may need to give an occasional, “Hey” to get his attention, but don’t offer words of encouragement or correction. Instead, try to stay out of the way as much as possible. Your job is to create specific situations where your pup can discover on his own that he is a bird dog. There are many situations you can create. Here are two of my favorites.

• When I start walking a pup in the field, I set a slow and steady pace. Anytime the pup putters or gets behind, I ignore him and continue walking so he has to run to catch up. I never say a word. As he runs to catch up, his instinct to be forward is awakened, and it isn’t long before he is paying attention to where I am and trying to stay in front of me.
• After a couple of weeks of walking a pup in the field and he is confident on the ground, I am ready to plant quail to develop his instinct to hunt and to point. I continue to walk at a slow and steady pace and try to approach the planted birds from downwind so he can smell them and begin using his nose to find them. Anytime he starts to make game, I stay back. By not being in the picture, I keep it between him and the bird. Each pup is different and some take more time to develop than others. As he learns to use his nose, he becomes skilled at finding birds and when he finds them he begins to stalk them. Eventually, the stalk turns into a point.

There are many different situations you can create for your pup, but the key to being successful is to understand the difference between developing and training. The way to develop your pup doesn’t involve controlling him or putting pressure on him. Instead, you let him learn to be a bird dog the same way I learned to swim—by awakening the instincts he was born with. You don’t have to teach him what to do; you simply set the stage, take him for a walk, ignore him and let him teach himself.

Using a Blank Gun

How you use a blank gun can help or hurt you in training. Recently, I was training with some amateurs that were fairly new to pointing dogs. They had done a great job introducing gunfire to their dogs, but now their dogs were older. Most were between one and two years old and every time their dogs chased quail, they fired their blank guns. It wasn’t my place to say anything, but I was glad I wouldn’t be teaching these dogs to be steady-to-shot. Their dogs had already made an association with chasing and the blank gun, and once formal training began, they would most likely launch themselves like rockets anytime they heard the sound of the shot.

A blank gun is different than a shotgun. Dogs understand the shotgun. They see it, hear it and watch the bird fall to the ground. The blank gun isn’t as simple for your dog to grasp. The shot can mean a number of different things depending on what associations he makes with the sound. Here are a few examples of how to think about the blank gun.  

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If you compete in juvenile stakes in field trials or tests, you may be required to fire over your dog when birds are flushed. While you need to condition your dog to gunfire, in training it’s not necessary to fire every time your dog has bird contact. In fact, once gunfire has been introduced, the less you fire over him as he is chasing, the easier he will be to train.

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Once formal training begins, you may be unsure as to when to fire the blank gun. If your dog is steady-to-wing and you are teaching him to be steady-to-shot, think of the blank gun as representing the end of a piece of bird work. In other words, the sound of the shot means it’s over and your dog did well. When your dog handles the situation, fire your gun. However, if your dog takes a couple of steps when the bird flies and you plan on going back to correct him, you don’t fire because there is still more training to do.

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You don’t need to fire the blank gun for every bird that flushes. I watched a fellow fire five times as a covey of five birds lifted in front of his dog. One shot would have been sufficient to let the dog know the situation was over and he handled it well. The same is true in the bird field when you are training on pigeons or quail. You might have a set-up with two launchers. Your dog points and you walk in and flush the first bird. Your dog remains steady, so you hold your fire because there is another bird on the ground. You flush the second bird, and if your dog continues to remain steady, you fire over the second bird.

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If you fired a lot over your dog when he was young and he associates chasing with the shot, he may need extra work as you teach him to be steady-to-shot. Once you are able to flush and fire over him, he may still want to break at the sound of the shot even though he remains standing. If he remains standing but still looks like he’s ready to launch, try firing a second or third time. Your dog isn’t expecting additional shots so he’s more likely to break, which gives you an opportunity to correct him. This type of work really helps proof the training.

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If you do a good job introducing gunfire and fire only as often as necessary when your dog is young, he won’t learn to associate the blank gun with chasing.  Then, during formal training you show him that gunfire means the end of a particular piece of bird work, not the beginning of a chase. The blank gun takes on a new meaning for your dog and the training goes a lot easier for you.

Dog Time

Dog time is one of my favorite expressions. It means living in the present and not thinking about the past or the future. No phone calls to return, no chores to do, no list of things to accomplish. If you spend time with dogs, you already know dog time.

Yesterday I let a nine-week-old pup into the kennel yard and worked her on her first quail. I had pulled some flight feathers so the quail could only fly a short distance, and I brought the pup in to where she could see the bird. Then I went and found a comfortable place to sit down. The pup’s first reaction was to stare at the quail and jump back, but curiosity soon got the best of her, and she returned. She jumped back again and began barking. She wanted to get closer but was afraid. She kept barking and jumping, and I could see the excitement building. Soon she was getting her nose close enough to smell the bird, but she was still afraid.

The quail had not moved, and, possibly sensing the pup’s building excitement, it decided to get out of there. As soon as it moved, the pup was on it like the predator she was. Grabbing it in her mouth, she raised her head high and began to prance. As she pranced, she accidentally dropped the quail and it started to run. She grabbed it again. This soon became a game of letting it go and grabbing it again. Finally the pup lay down and started chewing on it. I bet I watched her with that quail for several minutes and never said a word. I had no expectations of what should happen, or any concerns about what might happen. We were on dog time.

A couple of years ago I was participating in some field trials in Georgia. My friend was hoping to get her dog handling better before the next trial and asked if I’d ride with her as she ran him between events. I agreed, and we saddled up our horses. Her dog was young and independent, and right from the start I knew my friend was wound too tight. As soon as we broke away, she began riding hard and screaming, “Here—here!” Even I could sense the fear in her voice. Her dog was wearing both an e-collar and a tracking collar, so it was pretty clear he wasn’t going to get lost, but her efforts to control him were making the situation worse.

I rode over and talked to her about dog time. I suggested she relax, let her dog go, and see what happened. My friend settled down, stopped yelling, and we slowed our pace. It wasn’t long before he began making beautiful swings in front of us. My friend was amazed. She was trying to make things happen instead of being present in the moment and letting the dog do what he was bred to do. A couple of times when the dog got behind, my friend gave a calm “Hey,” and he turned and swung to the front. The dog was happy and my friend was happy. We were on dog time.

Now, I’m not saying that you don’t need to have a plan before taking your dog afield—you should always have a plan—but once you begin to train, allow that plan to change. Try to focus on your dog and relax. Live in the present. Let your dog react to the situation at hand rather than trying to control it. A plan that includes ten drills in thirty minutes is not a good way to train a pointing dog. Drills imply a mind-set that is all about making the dog do multiple repetitions of a task rather than allowing the training to unfold naturally, letting the dog react, and anticipating or reacting to what the dog is going to do.

Dogs remind me of Alfred E. Neuman from Mad magazine. Do you remember the caption, What—me worry? For dogs, everything is okay. Life is a game. Being on dog time involves getting down on your dog’s level and seeing things through his eyes. It’s a state of mind, and an important way to think about training. As you will learn (or may already know), these times in the field with your dog, away from life’s realities, are some of the best times that life has to offer.